Nowadays, it is a common practice to apply various kinds of treatment agents to one's hair, for example dyeing the hair to achieve a higher visual effect, and various devices for such application have been developed. Regarding the hair dyeing, for example, in the case of uniformly dyeing the entire hair, so called whole dyeing, it is not necessary to select a specific portion of the hair to be dyed, and the hair dye may simply be applied to the entirety of the hair. Accordingly, the dyeing work is relatively easy.
However, in the case of selectively dyeing a part of the hair, so called partial dyeing, the work is rather complicated. For example, in hair salons, the portion of the hair to be partially dyed is extracted in a layer from the head with a tapered tail portion of a comb called “tail comb”, and the hair dye is applied to the extracted hair with a brush.
Here, the expression “extract the hair in a layer” means that a group of hair is selectively drawn out from the head so that the group of hair forms a thin plane of a generally uniform thickness, and practical methods are shown, for example, in FIG. 17 of the patent document 1 and FIG. 3 of the patent document 2.
The partial dyeing may be performed for inner hair close to the scalp. By selectively dyeing the inner hair close to the scalp in addition to outer hair, the dyed inner hair becomes visible through the outer hair and thus a natural appearance can be achieved.
However, it is difficult for an individual user to practice such a technique as performed in hair salons. Accordingly, devices to be used by individual users exclusively for practicing the partial dyeing have been developed.
An example of the partial hair dyeing devices is formed as a nozzle member to be attached to a dispensing outlet of a container loaded with hair dye. The nozzle member includes an open groove at the tip portion thereof, so that the hair of the portion to be partially dyed can be passed through the groove. To perform the partial dyeing, the hair to be partially dyed is gathered in a bundle and passed through the open groove of the nozzle member attached to the container.
The user brings the nozzle member to the base portion of the hair, and moves the nozzle member from the base portion to the tip portion of the hair to be partially dyed, while keeping the container pressed. During this action the hair dye is dispensed to the open groove of the nozzle member, so that the hair of the desired portion can be partially dyed (for example, see patent document 1).
Another example of the partial hair dyeing devices includes a comb body, a hair grasp member pivotally attached to a base portion of the comb body, and a container loaded with hair dye. In this partial hair dyeing device the hair grasp member includes a pinching portion and an operating portion. The pinching portion is formed in a frame shape so as to surround the respective sides of the comb teeth in a pinching action, and the operating portion includes a finger-hook portion extending along the pivoting plane of the hair grasp member (for example, see patent document 2).